Live Like a King on Fuck All 2

Last month we received a bumper postbag for the first in our occasional series on living well for less, Live Like a King on Fuck All, and so we return to the subject in this post, incorporating some of your thoughts on the subject. We held a meeting about a title for the piece and halfway down the second pint decided to call it Live Like a King on Fuck All 2, which we’re thrilled with.

Eats

Reader, elliotmcv, commented, ‘An obvious suggestion but it’s always worth checking the supermarkets… for reduced items.’ Indeed it is, especially if you have a supermarket that’s on your way home. Visit the discounted section and you can pick up a selection of food that has to be eaten that evening.

I tried this for a week but after a nightly diet of rib-eye steaks, venison, pheasant and salmon en crouet I yearned for the simple pleasure of a buttered baked potato and the comforting mouthfeel of a spotted dick.

Family Day Trips

Simon F emailed us all excited about Blue Peter badges. ‘Did you know any child can can apply for a Blue Peter badge? You just fill out a form and say what your child has done that is amazing. Mine learned all the lyrics to the first Clash album.’

Be rewarded for your child’s talents

A quick visit to the BBC website confirms this to be the case and once you have received your badge you can apply for a card to get the littl’uns into hundreds of ‘attractions’ for nowt. Simple, Simon. Thanks for this great tip regarding the redistribution of the licence fee.

Be a student

Remember those years lounging around in each other’s laps, reading paperbacks, snorting plant food and experimenting with upsetting sex? No, me neither, but with E-Careers you get a chance to put that right by becoming a student again.

Sign up for any E-Careers online course and you are eligible for an NUS card. I discovered this when I signed up for a course in the dark arts of Google Analytics recently. Yes, it cost £19.99 (via Groupon) but as I was going to do it anyway the NUS card was an unexpected bonus. And there are in fact cheaper courses; the cheapest I could see was one in Accounting and Bookkeeping for £9, though you may consider that a bridge too far.

Armed with your £12 NUS card (just put ‘ECareers’ when you’re asked for your ‘institution’) you can then take on the world from a position of economic might.

Join the brightest minds of a generation

Benefits include 40% off food and booze at Pizza Express, half-price Spotify Premium, 25% of Domino’s Pizza, 10% off at the Co-op and concessionary rates on lots of tickets for events and sports.

For an additional £3.99 you can add a Gourmet Society membership (RRP £70) which functions in the same way as the Tastecard we mentioned in the previous LLAKOFA post and gives you up to 50% off in thousands of restaurants. Finally, my education pays off.

Talking of sports, the summer season is upon us and a number of readers got in touch to remind us that entrance to the final day of county cricket matches is priced low – around £5 – which is good value for a fine day out, as Dirty South and Half-life discovered recently.

And with Wimbledon coming up, remember that at 5pm you can get a reduced price ground pass (£5-18) which, in the first week in particular, allows you to see a lot of the big names on the outside courts. Once inside, you can also queue at Court 18 for re-sold tickets to the show courts. It’s also worth remembering that you’re allowed to take in one bottle of wine per person, as I discovered last year when I tried to take in two.

Vera Zvonareva demonstrating Wimbledon’s one bottle of wine rule

Be an Extra

Catching sight of Mrs Raider briefly on Holby City the other day reminded me that not only had I not brought in the washing, but also that being a TV and movie extra can be a good source of additional income. The work can be very sporadic and shouldn’t be relied upon to pay the rent, but it does offer the chance to earn some decent money for what is basically hanging around.

The catering is excellent and there’s always the chance of standing next to Sienna Miller in the queue for the portaloo. Mrs Raider’s top tip: ‘If they ask if you can bring a dog, say yes even if you have to borrow one. Those with pets always get let out early and you can be back in bed by 2pm’.

As we mentioned in the last LLAKOFA, Wetherspoons also offer incredible value, as do the new micropubs. In addition we should add that Antic have now introduced their new bitter, Volden’s Vim, into their pubs and it is currently selling for around £3 a pint.

We will keep ‘#pintwatch’ going on Twitter – just follow us on the link below to keep up with it and we can all get rich while we get paralytic, right?